NEW RELEASE
'Circus' recalls better times, and better albums, than last year's dud
New York Daily News Nov 30, 08 12:12 PM CST
(Newser)
-
While Britney Spears' life has resembled something of a sideshow over the past couple of years, her newest release is a welcome return to her musical roots, writes Jim Farber in the New York Daily News . And for Glenn Gamboa, writing in Newsday, Circu s can't just be called a comeback: "Not only is "Circus" (Jive) the best album of her career, but it could return her to the kind of massive, multiplatinum sales that she hadn't seen since the turn of the century."
More »
NEW RELEASE
Bold, brooding album piques critics' interest, though it's 'occasionally unlistenable'
Rolling Stone Nov 25, 08 3:04 PM CST
(Newser)
-
Kanye West’s latest, 808s and Heartbreak , finds the rapper changing his tune, singing instead of rapping and mourning instead of boasting—and the result is “bold, fascinating, foolhardy, occasionally unlistenable,” writes Jody Rosen in Rolling Stone . While its '80s drum tracks are a “pleasant shock,” West has forgotten an important lesson: “Heartbreak is not incompatible with wit, or with sharply drawn details, or with a buoyant beat.”
More »
NEW RELEASE
Diva shows split personality on new double album
Entertainment Weekly Nov 18, 08 11:47 AM CST
(Newser)
-
Beyoncé’s latest, I Am … Sasha Fierce , consists of two discs: one with “some lovely ballads” and the other “aggressive, sexual, and, well, fierce,” writes Leah Greenblatt in Entertainment Weekly . But despite a few gems, “the collection might have been better served had she edited it down to one disc, rather than belabor what ultimately seems like a marketing gimmick,” Greenblatt notes.
More »
NEW RELEASE
New album could be best yet from reunited '90s boy band
Newsday Sep 2, 08 10:46 AM CDT
(Newser)
-
Critics applaud the comeback album from reunited boy band New Kids on the Block, which, while it “may not break any ground musically,” is in fact “the best album of their multi-platinum career,” writes Glenn Gamboa in Newsday . “The best cuts” on The Block “exude an understated confidence the old New Kids never had,” Mikael Wood adds in the Los Angeles Times .
More »
MUSIC REVIEW
With big hair, big riffs and MTV buzz, Germans threaten to go mainstream in US
San Francisco Chronicle Aug 24, 08 10:53 AM CDT
(Newser)
-
Having dominated Europe, German rockers Tokio Hotel are threatening to go mainstream in the US, if the reception their riff-heavy pop metal earned among screaming preteens in San Francisco this week is any indication. "The best way to describe the glam-metal-emo-pop-tween group," Aidin Vaziri writes in the Chronicle , "is like the Jonas Brothers for girls who prefer chipped black nail polish and fishnet stockings to unicorn puffy stickers and purity rings."
More »
music review
'Downer' tunes far cry from feel-good Hannah Montana
Los Angeles Times Jul 22, 08 12:20 PM CDT
(Newser)
-
As Miley Cyrus’ second album under her own name hits stores today, the 15-year-old admitted on Good Morning America that her now-infamous Vanity Fair photos were a “mistake.” But just like those racy pics, the tougher tunes and “feel-bad downers” on Breakout are anathema to her bubbly Disney alter ego, Hannah Montana, the Los Angeles Times reports.
More »
'No twang' in singer's country tunes
Kenosha News Jul 21, 08 11:08 AM CDT
(Newser)
-
Struggling pop star Jessica Simpson’s country crossover got off to a rocky start Saturday when her debut performance at Wisconsin’s Country Thunder Festival drew a decidedly mixed reaction from the crowd, the Kenosha News reports. "I just don't hear the country in her; I don't hear the twang. She's not good enough to be here," said a country fan.
More »
music review
One Day As A Lion's new track doesn't fall far from the tree
Mother Jones Jul 20, 08 6:05 PM CDT
(Newser)
-
Rage Against the Machine fans probably won’t be disappointed with One Day As A Lion , the new project from frontman Zach de la Rocha: It sounds, well, "pretty much kinda-sorta exactly like Rage Against the Machine," writes Gary Moskowitz in Mother Jones . The first song, online this week, “could easily be mistaken for a middle-of-the-set song performed by Rage at Lollapalooza in the early 90s.”
More »
MUSIC REVIEW
At Radio City Southern rockers strut spiritual side, showcase 'arena-rock ascendance'
New York Times Jun 23, 08 4:33 PM CDT
(Newser)
-
My Morning Jacket is officially an arena-rock force, Nate Chinen raves in the New York Times . The Southern-rock darlings walked the line between spiritual and sanguine before a sold-out Radio City Music Hall on Friday, playing the majority of new album Evil Urges , which "features some of its strongest songs alongside some of its strangest."
More »
Crooner's version of You Shook Me All Night Long called 'vile'
Total Guitar Jun 23, 08 11:59 AM CDT
(Newser)
-
Celine Dion's rendition of AC/DC's Y ou Shook Me All Night Long has been voted the worst cover ever, according to Total Guitar magazine. The UK mag called the duet Dion performed with Anastacia in Las Vegas 6 years ago an "offense" against music. "The No. 1 worst cover song—Celine Dion covering AC/DC—is sacrilege," said magazine editor Stephen Lawson.
More »
MUSIC REVIEW
Johansson revisits legendary croaker's catalog
Village Voice May 14, 08 1:15 PM CDT
(Newser)
-
“Even the most sympathetic critics,” writes Tom Breihan for the Village Voice , have to grant that Anywhere I Lay My Head, Scarlett Johansson’s Tom Waits tribute album, “is a fundamentally ridiculous enterprise, almost stunning in its total lack of need to exist.” That said, Breihan thinks the record is actually pretty good, made stronger by the fact that it sounds absolutely nothing like Tom Waits.
More »
MUSIC REVIEW
Garage band figures out how to expand
Pitchfork Media Apr 2, 08 10:33 AM CDT
(Newser)
-
The Black Keys had hoped collaborating with Ike Turner would finally push the band out of its tired “garage minimalism,” writes Pitchfork’s Roque Strew. Though Ike died in December, the band already had material that expanded its sound. Attack & Release is its “most adventurous album to date,” mixing the expected “crossroads-blues” style with the “futuristic accents” of producer (and Gnarls Barkley-ite) Danger Mouse.
More »
OPINION
Queen of 'retro soul' not just cribbing from the past, says Frere-Jones
New Yorker Mar 2, 08 5:09 AM CST
(Newser)
-
It's tempting to chalk up the popularity of singer Amy Winehouse to her headline-grabbing bent for self-destruction, writes Sasha Frere-Jones in the New Yorker . But that would be a mistake. He takes a closer look at Back to Black , with its "perfect" single "Rehab," and finds much to treasure. What might initially come off as mere imitation of classic soul and R&B is actually a novel evolution, he argues.
More »
Magazine gives
2.5 stars to an album
it never heard
San Francisco Chronicle Feb 27, 08 2:42 PM CST
(Newser)
-
Pick a number, any number: Maxim 's 2.5-star rating—out of 5—for the Black Crowes' latest album was little more than a guess, the magazine admitted yesterday. No advanced copies were released, the San Francisco Chronicle reports, but that didn't stop Maxim's critic from decreeing in the March issue that Warpaint "hasn't left Chris Robinson and the gang much room for growth."
More »